Idle Words

Evan walked to school in the morning humming a song he had learned in school the week before. He liked school, and he had many friends. Today was Friday, and on Fridays the teacher read to them from a book, sometimes for forty-five minutes! It was always a religious story, and the children listened eagerly. Stories were a real treat.

Evan soon caught up with Greg. Greg was crippled but he was tough. He always tried his best to be cheerful, and played with the others whenever it was possible for him. Evan and Greg were close friends, but some of the other boys felt uncomfortable being around a handicapped boy. Besides, Greg never wanted to do anything wrong. Whenever the boys wanted to disobey the teacher, or tease another child, Greg did not want to be involved.

“Hi, Greg!” said Evan. “How are you? Did you get all your homework done?”

“We didn’t have homework, did we?” Greg looked worried.

“No, I was just teasing you,” grinned Evan.

“Hey! Today we get to hear more about the story. I like it, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” agreed Evan. ‘“Here, let me carry your lunch for you. I like the part where the police think Tom was stealing. That was really scary!”

“I like the part when Tom talks to the Christian lady. It makes me think about my own soul,” said Greg quietly.

Evan coughed nervously and said nothing. He was relieved when Greg changed the subject. “Come on over to my place tomorrow, Evan. I’ve got a new game I’d like to try with you.”

“Sure, I’ll be there. What time?”

“Anytime is good,” answered Greg. They were in the school yard now. Evan handed Greg his lunch and dashed off to join his friends in the soccer field.

“Hey, Evan,” called Bob. “What did Greg have to say this morning?”

Evan sighed. He hated it when they teased him about Greg. “Nothing special,” he mumbled.

“Come on! Don’t tell me you walked to school with him and didn’t say a word!” jeered Mike.

Idle Words

“Did he preach to you?” asked Bob with a grin.

“Goody Greg’s always preaching about something!” added Mark with disgust in his voice.

“We just talked about the story Miss Rogers is reading to us, that’s all,” said Evan. He wished they would stop talking about Greg, but he didn’t dare to tell them that. He didn’t want to lose his friends.

“And I’ll bet Greggy just loves it,” taunted Mike. “It’s just the right kind of story for him. I think it’s a weird story,” he lied.

“Yeah, she should read stories with monsters in it,” suggested Bob, “but that would be too scary for little Greg.”

The boys shouted with laughter.

“Come on, guys, let’s get a game going. Where’s the ball?” Mark loved soccer, and didn’t want to waste too much time.

Would the Lord want to listen to him after the terrible things he had done?

“Yes, boys, let’s not waste time,” Evan mimicked his teacher. He was glad the subject had changed. Imitating others was something Evan could do extremely well, and it always made the boys laugh.

“Do Suzanne, Evan!” prompted Bob. “I love it when you do her.”

Without hesitation, Evan mimicked Suzanne. She was not very intelligent, and often the tears rolled down her cheeks when she failed yet another test. She wore thick glasses and had a slight speech problem. Now Evan mercilessly imitated her, and the boys screamed with laughter.

“Do Greg, Ev!” shouted Mike.

“Come on, don’t be a chicken,”

urged Mark when Evan hesitated.

Evan knew it was wrong, but he wanted the boys to like him. So he mimicked Greg, exaggerating his movements, and putting himself into the most ridiculous postures. Evan noticed that some of the older boys were watching too, and that made him feel proud.

Suddenly the boys became very quiet. The laughter stopped. Evan turned, expecting to see a teacher, but there stood Greg! One look at Greg’s face told him he had seen the whole performance.

Evan felt sick. He waited for Greg’s tears or a burst of anger, but Greg said nothing. He simply turned and hobbled away from him.

“Greg! Wait!” cried Evan.

But Greg did not wait. Evan had never seen so much hurt on Greg’s face.

“Don’t worry, Evan. He’ll get over it,” said Bob awkwardly.

But that didn’t make Evan feel any better. He had a very miserable day at school, and he barely spoke to anyone. He stole glances at Greg when he was working, but Greg didn’t seem to be concentrating either. He wished he could run over to him and throw his arms around him and cry. He wished he dared to ask Greg to forgive him. He felt like such a traitor. And he was supposed to go to Greg’s place tomorrow!

Evan glanced at Suzanne. She was erasing a mistake in her math notebook. She always seemed to be getting things wrong. No one dared to be friendly to her. At recess she played alone. Evan was filled with a deep feeling of shame.

When Evan got home from school, he went straight to his bedroom and closed the door. He threw himself on his bed and sobbed. His mother had often warned him against “going with the crowd,” and now he had hurt his best friend and had made fun of Suzanne! Just because he wanted to be in with the group! Evan had also been taught that he may lay all his needs before the Lord. He tried to do that. But it just made him cry harder. How angry God must be with him now. How could he ever make it right? Would Greg ever want to speak to him again? Would the Lord want to listen to him after the terrible things he had done?

“Evan!” It was his mother’s voice. “Come and have a drink!”

Evan tried to answer, but no sound came. He felt so miserable.

“Evan?” He heard his mother come upstairs. “What’s wrong, dear?” she asked when she saw his tear-stained face. “What happened?”

Evan tried to keep from crying, but it was useless. The tears streamed down his face. His mother held him close and waited until he was ready to talk.

“Tell me about it,” she said gently.

Evan told her. He told her that it was all because he wanted to fit in with the others, and that he wished he had never done it.

“Did you pray about it, Evan?” she asked.

That made Evan cry again. “I tried, but I feel like God won’t listen to me,” he sobbed.

“You have been a very naughty boy, and very unkind. You don’t deserve God’s attention. But He is willing to forgive your sins, if you confess them to Him. You must tell the Lord everything, Evan. Ask the Holy Spirit to work true repentance in your heart.” Evan’s mother had said these things many times, but this time Evan listened with his heart. “I will leave you alone for a few minutes, dear,” she said. “Then come downstairs for something to eat.”

Evan tried to do what his mother had advised him to do: to tell the Lord his sin. But he felt worse than before. He felt it was right if the Lord would never answer his prayer. He felt unworthy in the presence of a holy God. With a heavy heart he went downstairs.

When Evan’s father came home, his mother pulled him aside into the bedroom. Evan knew that she was telling him what had happened. He knew his father would want to talk to him after supper.

“So what do you plan to do about it?” asked Evan’s father. They were still in the kitchen; supper was finished, and the table had been cleared. It was something they usually did. After the Bible reading and prayer, they would help clear the table and talk about their various experiences that day.

“I don’t know, Dad,” said Evan. “Greg asked me to come over to his house tomorrow, but that was before…” His voice trailed off. He felt like crying again. He hadn’t eaten much of his supper, and he had even passed up his favorite dessert.

“Do you think you should wait until tomorrow?” Evan’s father asked.

Evan’s stomach lurched. “Dad!” he began. He didn’t think he could face Greg again, but he knew his dad was right.

“You’ll have to apologize to him,” stated Evan’s father. “But an apology won’t heal the wound you’ve made, at least not for a long time. You have also been wounded, son, in your conscience. I hope that wound is healed only by the Holy Spirit. I hope you won’t quickly forget this lesson. It’s so easy to push away things we don’t like. And this is one of them. Perhaps next week you will wonder why you were so upset about this whole thing. But God doesn’t forget. Your sins have to be forgiven by God.”

Evan nodded. He knew that. But would God forgive his sins?

“Do you want me to come with you to Greg’s?”

Evan was going to say no, but it would be nice to have his father’s support. “I’d like that,” he whispered.

The walk to Greg’s house had never seemed so short. Evan wished he could hold his dad’s hand, but he wouldn’t want anyone to see him doing that.

Evan rang the doorbell with a shaky hand. His heart pounded. His mouth felt dry. He wished he could run away. But Greg’s father had opened the door and was inviting him inside. “Greg is in the living room, Evan. Come on in, John,” he said to Evan’s father.

Greg was trying to read a book. He had heard the conversation at the front door, and was waiting when Evan stepped into the room.

“Hi, Evan,” he said.

“Hi,” returned Evan. Suddenly he was filled with a sense of what he had done. He seemed to see Greg in a new light. Here was a crippled boy, who often suffered pain, who had been through surgery several times, and who seemed to be a child of God: and Evan had made fun of him in front of all the boys! He felt it would be just if he were thrown into hell. He didn’t deserve anything else. “Are you mad at me?” Evan knew it was a silly question but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“No.”

“What?” Evan looked at him. “How can that be?”

“I have been forgiven much worse sin than yours, Evan, and I may not be angry with you.”

“But, what I did, Greg, it was so awful. I know I hurt your feelings!” The tears threatened to come again, but Evan blinked them back.

“Yeah, you hurt my feelings, Evan,” and Greg blinked away his tears, “but I’ve been doing some thinking. At first I was just hurt. Then I was furious. I even felt like I hated you. I’m sorry about that, and I asked the Lord to forgive me.”

“But Greg!” interrupted Evan. “I’m the one who should be asking for forgiveness. It would serve me right if you hated me and never talked to me again. I just … I just…”and Evan couldn’t restrain his tears any longer. “I just feel so bad and I wish I hadn’t done it. I’m sorry, Greg.”

“Lord,? he prayed, “give true repentance in my heart?

“I forgive you, Evan. You’ve always been a great friend.”

“Not really.”

“Do you want to see my new game?” grinned Greg.

Evan laughed out loud. He was so relieved. Greg was such a good friend, much better than the other guys at school.

Later that night, when Evan was lying in bed, he thought about his eventful day. He had asked Greg for forgiveness, and he had regained his friendship, but the Lord seemed so far away. He thought again of his imitation of Greg and Suzanne. Ridiculing Suzanne had been just as sinful. Just because Greg had seen him he had felt worse, but in God’s eyes that was just as wicked. Perhaps he was only sorry because of the results. “Lord,” he prayed, “give true repentance in my heart.”

— from Building on the Rock:

Religious Stories for Children,

Book 1 (available soon)

HOLY SPIRIT

Gordon Brownville’s Symbols of the Holy Spirit tells about the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole. On one of his trips, Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird’s cage and set it free.

Imagine the delight of Amundsen’s wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. No doubt she exclaimed, “He’s alive! My husband is still alive!”

So it was when Jesus ascended. He was gone, but the disciples clung to his promise to send them the Holy Spirit. What joy, then, when the dove-like Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus was alive and victorious at the right hand of the Father. This continues to be the Spirit’s message.

—TL

INTERCESSORS

We are told of an Armenian prince who was taken captive, together with his queen, by Cyrus, King of Persia. The prince was brought before King Cyrus and was asked if he desired to have his liberty, his kingdom and his queen restored to him.

His answer was, “As for my liberty and my kingdom, I value them not; but if my blood would redeem my wife, I would cheerfully give it.”

King Cyrus generously restored him all. Later the prince’s queen was asked what she thought of King Cyrus. She replied, “I really did not take notice of him. My mind was so occupied with the man who offered to give his life for my ransom, that I could think of no other.”

The Lord Jesus Christ has actually done for His people what this prince offered to do, yes, much more than that. May we feel a similar regard for Him, so as to overlook all other objects.

HIS PLEA FOR HIS BROTHER

In ancient Rome there were two brothers, one of whom was a brave soldier who had lost both his hands in the battles of his country. The other on one occasion was a criminal, standing before the judge to receive a terrible sentence for a great crime of which he had been found guilty. Just as the sentence was about to be pronounced upon the culprit, his brave soldier brother rushed hastily into the court, and, going right up before the judge, held up those wounded and disfigured arms as the only appealing plea for his guilty brother. They seemed to say, “Spare him for what I have done.” The guilty one was pardoned for his brother’s sake.

May God fulfil also for you: “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph.4:32).

THE PLAN OF THE MASTER WEAVER

My life is but a weaving between the Lord and me,
I may not choose the colors, He knows what they should be,
For He can view the pattern upon the upper side,
While I can see it only on this, the under side…

Sometimes He weaveth sorrow, which seemeth strange to me,
But I will trust His judgment, and work on faithfully,
‘Tis He who fills the shuttle, and He
knows what is best,
So I shall weave in earnest, leaving to Him the rest…

Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why —
The dark threads are as needed in the Weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

THE PRAYER TRACK

The native Christians in a small West African village had no privacy for prayer in their huts, so every Christian used to make off into the bush, behind his hut, to have times of prayer with God. Behind every believer’s hut a little track became plainly visible where they went back and forth to their places of prayer.

If it ever happened that the track was rather overgrown for want of use, another Christian would come and say, “Brother, there is something wrong with your track.”

Figuratively, how does your prayer track fare? Is it well worn?

“Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matt. 6:6).

THE JOKER’S ANSWER

It is said that a certain Earl, who held at one time the office of King’s “joker” was converted through his own question. Driving one day with four-in-hand on a country road, he pulled up his horses, and said, “Lad, which is the way to hell?”

Possibly the boy mistook the question. At any rate, he replied, “Go straight on, sir, and you will soon be there” (Matt. 7:13).

Dear friend, could this also be said of you?

WORTH $300,000

The doctor of the village knocked at the door of a Christian worker, and entering said, “The mayor is dead; died last night worth $300,000.”

Making no reply, the statement was repeated. The believer looked up, and said calmly: “Three hundred thousand dollars would be a good capital to commence this world with, but a very poor one for the next!’

“If in this life only we have hope… we are most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19).

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